I hope you’re all having some wonderful times in the sun so far!

Mark and I had a little getaway in the spring, so our summer months will be spent at home.  But there’s always plenty to do around the house – and town – what with yard work, barbecues, Reds games, visits to the pool, and the kids’ comings and goings.  It seems, though, that the weeks of summer are already flying by!  So before it gets away from me, I just wanted to check in, say hello, and let you know about some exciting developments.

World Vision Experience:  AIDS

Vineyard Community Church, June 20th ~ June 27th

If you live in Cincinnati, or anywhere close, you won’t want to miss this event!

The WORLD VISION EXPERIENCE: AIDS will be on exhibition at the Vineyard Community Church, near Tri-County Mall, June 20th ~ June 27th!

The WORLD VISION EXPERIENCE: AIDS – Step Into Africa – is a unique, multimedia, interactive exhibit that allows visitors to step into the lives of actual children affected by HIV and AIDS in the hardest-hit region of the world: Sub-Saharan Africa.

It’s for all ages, days and evenings, and we’re so fortunate to be one of only several places in the U.S. where the exhibition will be touring this summer.  There are two short — but compelling — video clips on the BEADED HOPE blog at http://www.beadedhope.com/blog/ telling more about the exhibit.

We’re also humbled that BEADED HOPE has been invited to participate in this event.  So please stop by the BEADED HOPE booth and say hello once you’ve had the opportunity to explore Africa through the eyes of some of its dear children.

We’re Down Under ~ And Other Places Too!

So…is anyone going to Australia or India this summer?  That would be a real stretch for me (even if we hadn’t already vacationed this year).  But I guess it’s not a stretch for books these days.  Can’t you believe it?  I’m always amazed at how small our world has become.
It seems Beaded Hope is for sale from Koorong, a Christian bookseller in Australia.  And Rel, a wonderful lady who does book reviews there, is using it for her October reading group (relzreviewz.blogspot.com).

It also recently showed up on a site called “flipkart” which sells books in India. When I asked my friend and co-worker Usha (who is from India) if this was for real, she confirmed it by sending me an email saying, “Yes, this is India. OH, I AM THRILLED. MY CHEEKS ARE HURTING BECAUSE I AM BEAMING SO WIDE!”  My reply to that is, she makes my cheeks hurt because she makes me beam so wide!

Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone – everywhere – for your support.  You’re the hope of Beaded Hope!

Summer Reading

So far, so VERY good on the list are…

• Truly, Madly – Heather Webber
• Spring’s Renewal – Shelley Shepard Gray
• The Help – Kathryn Stockett
• Same Kind of Different As Me – Ron Hall & Denver Moore

And lots of books in my to-be-read pile!

What about you?  If you’ve read a good book, please contact me at www.cathyliggett.com.   I’d love to post your recommendation!

Hugs and blessings to you ~ all summer through!

The WORLD VISION EXPERIENCE: AIDS – Step Into Africa is a unique, multimedia, interactive exhibit that allows visitors to step into the lives of actual children affected by HIV and AIDS in the hardest-hit region of the world: Sub-Saharan Africa.

It’s for all ages, days and evenings, and we’re so fortunate to be one of only several places in the U.S. where the exhibition will be touring this summer.  There are two short — but compelling — video clips on the BEADED HOPE blog  http://www.beadedhope.com/blog/ telling more about the exhibition.

We’re also humbled that BEADED HOPE has been invited to participate in this event.  So please stop by the BEADED HOPE booth and say hello once you’ve had the opportunity to explore Africa through the eyes of its children.

ALSO, to the AUTHOR BUZZ CONTEST ENTRANTS ~ It’s been such a delight to see your names come from all over the country.  THANK YOU SO MUCH for your interest!  You’ve made this Ohio girl smile.  The 5 winners of that contest are:

Marie from Pennsylvania

Elizabeth from Georgia

Barbara from Texas

Penny (like Mama Penny in the book, I just realized!) from Oregon

Wendy from Ontario

CONGRATULATIONS to all!  And again, much thanks to all who participated!

Lana (like banana) is a wife, a mother (of 5 kids!), home educator, voracious reader and prolific blogger. I met Lana recently after she wrote a review of Beaded Hope by Cathy Liggett. She loved the book. Actually, that’s putting it too mildly. She L.O.V.E.D the book (check out her full review here) and after she wrote her review she started tweeting about it. She tweeted so much that I had to send her a note and thank her for all the kudos that she was lavishing on Beaded Hope.

Then a few days later Lana decided to enter her blog in a contest for mom bloggers. Little Remedies is giving away a top prize of $1000 to the mom blogger who receives the most votes between now and April 26th.

But, here’s the thing, Lana has challenged all of her readers to vote for her blog to win the prize and, if she wins, she will donate half of the prize to Beaded Hope. Lana has decided to get involved in a way that makes perfect sense for her….how cool is that!

So, I think you ought to run on over to http://tinyurl.com/ye9r5ay and place a vote for ILoveMy5Kids.  Seriously, get moving. And don’t forget that you can vote once a day between now and April 26th.

Then check out Lana’s blog at ILoveMy5Kids or follow her on twitter.

Thanks, Lana, for having such a big heart and for getting passionate!

First off, congratulations to Diana W. from New York who is the Week 4 winner in the Beaded Hope-You’re-A-Winner Giveaway! Diana, I hope you enjoy the goodies that are coming your way!

AND secondly, a special note to AUTHOR BUZZ Contest Entrants ~ All 5 Winners will be announced the week after Easter.  In the meantime, thank you all so much for participating.  It’s been great fun to see entries coming from all over the U.S.

DON’T forget ~ there are two more weeks to go!  Two more big chances to win!

Hope many others are signing up for Week 3 – with 3 items to win! The BEADED HOPE book, beaded bracelet and a cute beaded key chain too!